Highlights

• China's MIIT opened public consultation on 101 draft industry standards covering rare earths, battery materials, and critical minerals—transforming technical specifications into tools of strategic statecraft and supply chain control.
• A new standard for cerium-praseodymium-neodymium oxide reinforces China's dominance at the choke point between mining and magnet manufacturing, potentially raising barriers for Western efforts to build independent supply chains.
• By codifying domestic benchmarks in sectors it already dominates, Beijing exports not just materials but the rules governing them, forcing global suppliers to adapt to Chinese technical frameworks and qualification regimes.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has opened a public consultation on 101 newly drafted industry standards, a procedural step that—while bureaucratic on the surface—marks a meaningful advance in Beijing’s effort to formalize technical control over strategically vital materials.

The draft standards, open for comment from January 27 through February 25, 2026, span black metallurgy, non-ferrous metals, building materials, machinery, and rare earths. Among the most consequential is a new rare earth industry standard for cerium–praseodymium–neodymium oxide, a blended oxide feedstock essential to permanent magnets used across electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, aerospace, and defense systems.

Other standards, per an Association of China Rare Earth Industry entry (opens in a new tab), cover battery-grade lithium dihydrogen phosphate, graphene oxide powder weight-loss testing via thermogravimetric analysis, precision abrasives for touchscreen glass processing, and dozens of specialty mineral powders. Collectively, they establish uniform methods for testing, purity thresholds, performance metrics, and quality certification across materials that underpin EV batteries, semiconductors, optics, AI hardware, and clean-energy infrastructure.

On paper, this is routine standardization. In practice, it is strategic statecraft.

By codifying domestic benchmarks—especially in sectors where China already dominates processing and refining—Beijing strengthens its ability to export not just materials, but rules. Suppliers and downstream manufacturers, including Western firms, may increasingly find that Chinese standards become the default qualification regime, even for products sold outside China. This is how industrial dominance becomes institutionalized.

The rare earth oxide standard is particularly significant. Cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium oxides sit at the choke point between mining and magnet manufacturing. A formalized Chinese specification can shape export acceptability, tighten downstream qualification requirements, and subtly reinforce pricing power—raising integration barriers for non-Chinese processors and complicating Western efforts to stand up independent magnet supply chains.

For the United States, the implications are clear and uncomfortable. Standards determine who can sell, who can qualify, and who must adapt. As Washington invests billions in reshoring critical minerals and advanced manufacturing, it now faces a parallel challenge: standards sovereignty. Without aligned U.S. and allied technical frameworks—across rare earths, battery materials, and advanced ceramics—Western supply chains risk remaining structurally dependent, even when production shifts geographically.

The consultation window itself is brief and procedural. The signal is not. China is no longer content to dominate supply alone—it is methodically defining the technical language of the industries that depend on it.

Disclaimer: This news item originates from Chinese government-affiliated and state-linked industry media, including organizations operating under China’s industrial policy framework. All information should be independently verified, and interpretations should be assessed in light of state-directed economic objectives.